Ceiling construction



v (lam/wa Oct. 22, 1940. T. B. MUNROE CEILING CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 28, l937 \OM. w\v film Q W 7 n m D M {m EH... w W m m E n a: x m B T lllllllm ulll Patented Oct. 22, 1940 CEILING CONSTRUCTION Treadway B. Munroe, Chicago, 111., alaignor to The Celotex Corporation, Chicago, IlL, a corporation of Delaware Application October 28, 1937, Serial No. 171,414

GCIaims.

This invention relates to ceiling and wall structures, and more particularly to those capable of transmitting light and overcoming acoustical defects, the invention having for its object to provide a construction which can be easily installed and which is more eflicient in use than those heretofore proposed.

With these and other objects in view the invention resides in the novel details of construction and combinations of parts as will be disclosed more fully hereinafter and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawin forming a part 01 this specification and in which like numerals designate like parts in all the views- Fig. 1 is a perspective view partially in vertical section illustrating a ceiling made in accordance with this invention; and

Figs. 2 and 3 are diagrammatic vertical sectional views of mcdifled forms of the acoustical unit shown in Fig. l.

This invention has'for a particular object the provision of a ceiling or other wall structure which is capable of transmitting illumination therethrough so that the room, of which the wall is a part, may be indirectly lighted from a source of light behind a portion of the wall structure thereby eliminating any direct rays of light which are found objectionable. In addition the light transmitting member, forming the wall structure, has applied thereto one or more units, preferably of fibrous material, which are so constructed .and supported upon said member as to receive and substantially absorb sound waves coming in contact therewith, wherefore such unit is a corrective of acoustical defects. The material of which such unit is made is also capable of transmitting light therethrough to an appreciable extent, and the unit may be reinforced if necessary for strengthening purposes between the points of its support on the light transmitting base member.

A practical embodiment of this invention is illustrated in the drawings wherein I represents any suitable structural support for the wall or ceiling, such as the usual studding or floor beams, and 1 is the light transmitting base member which may be made of glass as indicated or of any other suitable translucent or transparent material preferably in sheet formation either planar or provided with curved or other geometrical plane surfaces, said member being supported along its edges as by moulding strips 3 or other bracket-like devices and, if necessary, by rod-like hangers 4 at points spaced from its edges.

The numeral 5 indicates the space on one side of the member 2 constituting the room, and 6 indicates the space on the other side of said member, and in the space 8 is located the source of illumination such as the electric light bulbs 1 6 disposed in the trough I having a solid bottom wall 9 with an upwardly and inwardly extending curved reflector wall portion II and a shielding wall H to hide the bulbs I from view. In other words the light from said bulbs will be trans- 10 mitted upwardly and reflected by the curved wall portion I over the top of the shield ll into the 7 region or space directly above the light transmitting member 2, all as will be clearly understood from Fig. 1. A series of troughs 8, or a con- 15 tinuous trough may be provided along an edge portion of said member, and when said member is of appreciable surface area, the troughs with their contained light bulbs may be provided around all of the edges thereof. In other words, m sufficient light will be supplied for the purpose desired, and it may be found necessary in extremely large ceilings or walls to provide more than one light transmitting member 2 with corresponding increase in the sources of illumina- :5 tion.

An acoustical unit is generall indicated by the numeral I5 in Fig. 1 and comprises a box-like structure formed from sheet material whereby there is produced the bottom wall I 6, upwardly 30 extending side walls such as I1, and outwardly extending flange portions I8 which are substantially parallel to the bottom wall. The units may be square as shown or they may have other geometrical shapes such that two or more can be placed side by side to cover the base member 2. The flanges I8 may be provided on all sides of the unit or they may be formed on only certain sides, but in the latter case the flange of one unit in assembling should cover the space on the glass 2 which is devoid of a flange of the next adjacent unit, and preferably the flange should be of such dimension as to completely extend across the space between the vertical side walls of the adjacent units. Thus, there will be provided 'a series of intersecting air channels I9 between each adjacent pair of units into which sound waves may enter to strike and be absorbed by the vertical walls of said units. In Fig. 1 the flanges are indicated as so formed that, when the units are applied to the glass 2, the flanges of each two adjacent units will overlap as shown. A reinforcing rib is indicated at 20, pressed or otherwise formed in the bottom wall It of a unit to strengthen the span of said bottom wall, and such 58 strengthening ribs may be circular as shown or of any other configuration, wherefore such ribs may have the additional feature of ornamentation.

The unit i Sis preferably made of fibrous material to reduce the cost of manufacture, but any other suitable material could be utilized which possessed the important features of being light transmitting and being vibratory or relatively easily flexed by the sound waves impinging thereon. Paper fiber felted into sheet formation is suitable as one material, but many other substances could be used and therefore only a few will be metnioned, namely, rag fiber, cotton fiber, bagasse fiber, straw fiber, cellulose acetate, gelatinous substances, parchment, etc. Such material however should be fairly impervious to air flow and flexible at least to the extent of vibrating under the influence of the sound waves that strike it. Therefore the thickness of the sheet from which the unit is made need not necessarily be extremely thin, but it should have sumcient body to retain substantially the shape into which it is formed.

In Fig. 2 is shown a modification of the unit l 5, said modification being a substantial duplicate thereof with the exception that there is provided a top wall 25 adhered to the flanges is to provide a substantially closed and box-like chamber. An advantage of this type of construction is that the top 25 may be of a different material, and/or of a different color, from that of the bottom wall it and sides 87, resulting in a variation of the lighting effect obtained in the completed assembly, and additional strength is obtained at the joints between two adjacent units. Whereas the bottom wall iii in this figure is shown planar, it could be provided with strengthening ribs as hereinbefore described.

The modification shown in Fig. 3 comprises a unit of the pill-box type in that there is provided a lower section comprising a bottom wall 36 having integral upwardly extending side walls 3|, and into the space between said side walls is fitted the companion upper section consisting of the top wall 32 having the integral depending sides 33, the dimensions of the companion sections being such that when the upper section is placed in the lower section the side walls 33 and 3! respectively thereof will be in contact and therefore can be adhered together. Thus it will be seen that this modification is lacking in any outwardly extending flanges wherefore the, units may be applied in the assembly in close contact with each other in which case there will not be formed the air channels is therebetween as previously described. The two sections can be of different materials and/or color as was the case with the modification illustrated in Fig. 2.

In assembling the entire structure, the glass base member 2 is first installed and then the units are applied to the room-side surface thereof, using any suitable adhesive which however should be of substantially transparent character. When using the types of units shown in Figs. 1 and 2 there will be created the air passage l9 between the adjacent units, and preferably the adhesive should be applied to the entire surface of the top walls of the modifications shown in Figs. 2 and 3 to prevent any possibility of sagging which might affect the uniform transmission of light through the assembly.

Whereas above there has been describedthe preferred construction, it is to be understood that the base member specifically referred to as of glass may be of any other suitable relatively aaiaeea when formed from such materials not naturally producing relatively transparent sheets, should be so treated in their manufacture as by the inclusion of oil or the like, or by beating sufiiciently to produce a material of the general nature of glassine whereby the units if) when formed from such materials will serve to transmit light from the light sources I.

It is further, of course, to be understood that when material such as cellulose acetate, gelatinous substances, and the like, are used as a material from which the units is are made, relatively transparent forms of such material are to be used'and it is further to be understood that in all cases the material from which the units l5 are formed may be suitably tinted or colored or decorated, it, of course, being home in mind that such coloring or decoration should not be carried out to an extent such that the transparency of the units it is unduly diminished.

It is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details of construction and arrangements of parts without departing from the spirit of this invention and therefore it is desired not to be limited to the exact foregoing disclosure except as may be required by the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A wall comprising a base member of light transmitting material, a source of light behind said member, and a plurality of unit chambers in front of said member, said chambers spaced from each other and carried by said member, each chamber having an exposed wall freely vibratory when impacted by sound waves.

2. A wall of light transmitting material having the property of absorbing sound wave energy for the correction of acoustical conditions, a source of light behind the material, said wall composed of unit chambers, each chamber substantially closed and having an exposed surface which has resilient flexibility whereby upon impact of sound waves thereagainst the surface will vibrate and absorb a substantial portion of the energy of the sound waves impacting thereon.

3. A compound wall structure comprising a base of light transmitting material, a source of light behind the material and mounted upon said base of light transmitting material a plurality of unit chambers of light transmitting material,

each chamber being substantially closed and having an exposed surface which is of such thickness that the relation of the thickness thereof to resilience is such that on impact of sound waves thereagainst there will be imparted to such exposed surface vibrations of sufiicient amplitude to absorb a substantial portion of the energy of the impacting sound waves.

4. A light transmitting and acoustical correction wall construction comprising a source of light behind the wall, the Wall composed of a light transmitting rigid back member and mounted thereon a plurality of closed chambers characterized in that the exposed faces of the closed chambers are light transmitting and are sufliciently thin that the such faces are resiliently vibratible whereby the energy, of sound waves impinging the such exposed faces of said closed chambers may be substantially absorbed.

5. The combination with a wall structure comprising a base of light transmitting material, of

a sound absorption unit comprising a chamber, an exposed light transmitting surface therefor freely vibratory when impacted by sound waves, and a surface opposite to the first mentioned surface adapted to mount said unit as a wall surface and for transmitting light from the aforesaid base of light transmitting material to said exposed lighting surface, whereby an acoustical and light transmitting wall surface is adapted to be formed.

6. A compound sound absorbing wall construction comprising a base member of light transmitting material, a source of light behind the light transmitting base member and mounted upon said base member of light transmitting material, a plurality of unit acoustical correction chambers; the unit acoustical correction chambers mounted in juxtaposition and comprising a substantially continuous wall surface, each of said chambers comprising side walls and an exposed wall forming a light transmitting face surface, the said face surface of a thickness such that the relation of the thickness to resilience thereof affords a vibratable wall forming face which upon impact of sound waves thereagainst will have imparted thereto vibrations of sufilcient amplitude to absorb a substantial portion of the energy of the impacting sound wave.

TBEADWAY B. MUNROE. 

